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PANORAMIC VIEW— COVINGTON, VIRGINIA 



Alleghany County 



^VIRGINIAi 



Its Resources and Industries 




I5SULD BY 

The Chamber of Commerce of Covington, Virginia 



AUTHORIZED BY 

The City Council of Covington, and the Board of 
Jupervisors of Alleghany County, Virginia, igo?' 



A 1 1 e g h a 71 y County, Virginia 



ALLEGHANY COUNTY 



HLLEGHANY COUNTY, on the western border of Virginia, 
with a mean length of twenty-six miles, a mean breadth of 
twenty miles, and an area of 431,737 acres, is the center of a 
rich agricultural and industrial district and combines with its 
many natural advantages of location and fertility of soil a vast territory 
of mineral wealth which alone would establish for it a position of impor- 
tance. The county lies at the base of the Alleghany Mountains, from 
which it derives its name, and the mean altitude exceeds two thousand 
feet. Well watered by the headwaters of James River, the county is 
fertile and abounds in all the products of farm and field. Chief among the 
agricultural products are corn, oats, and wheat, in addition to the dairy, 
orchard and garden products. Live stock raising forms an important 
industry, thousands of cattle finding pasture in the highlands, which 
abound in bluegrass. After a recent investigation of the subject of fruit 
culture in Alleghany County, Professor Alwood, formerly of the Virginia 
Polytechnic Institute, gave it as his opinion that what is known as the 
Falling Springs Valley of the county produces a variety of Pippins which 
compare most favorably with the noted Albemarle variety. The cultiva- 
tion of fruit is engaging the attention of residents throughout the county, 
and is proving a paying investment. For the farm and garden products a 
ready market is created by the manufacturing industries which cover the 
county. There has been an appreciable increase in the cultivation of cab- 
bage and Irish potatoes, which grow to immense proportions and are of 
a specially rich flavor. 

^ Seldom is found such pleasant blending of agricultural wealth and 
untold mineral deposits, nor can any locality excel Alleghany County in 
the excellence of bountiful water power which only awaits the command 
of genius and capital to utilize it to commercial advantage. The histo- 
rian Martin recognized this when, in 1836, after a visit to this region, he 
stated : "The country abounds in all the products of the earth, and the 
mountains abound in iron, and present sufficient water power to force any 
quantity of machinery." Of special merit is the water powier in Dunlap's 
Creek, a mile west of Covington, Jackson's River throughout its entire 
course through the county, and Smith's Creek, in the eastern extremity 
of the county. 

^ In natural scenery the county abounds, the term "perfect sublimity" 
being employed by a noted writer in describing the passage of Jackson's 
River through White's Mountain, between Clifton Forge and Iron Gate. 



Its Resources and Industrie 




"THE FALLS." NEAR COVINGTON, ALLEGHENY COQNTY, VIRGINIA 



A 1 1 e g h a n y County^ Virginia 



in 1801 Thomas Jefferson, writing of "The Falls" said: "It is a water 
of James River where it is called Jackson's River, rising in the Warm 
Springs Mountain, and flowing into that valley. It falls over a rock two 
hundred feet into the valley below. The sheet of water is broken in its 
breadth by the rocks in one or two places, but not at all in its height. Be- 
tween the sheet and the rock at the bottom you may walk across dry. 
This cataract will bear no comparison with that of Niagara as to the 
quantity of water composing it, the sheet being only twelve or fifteen feet 
wide above and somewhat more spread below ; but it is half as high again, 
the latter being only one hundred and fifty-five feet, according to the 
measurement made by M. Vaudriul, Governor of Canada, and one hun- 
dred and thirty according to a more recent account." Equi-distant be- 
tween Covington and Hot Springs on the branch line of the Chesapeake 
& Ohio Railway, is "The Natural Well," the aperture being about three 
feet in diameter, but several feet below the surface the well widens, being 
of sufficient size to float a boat thirty feet in length. 

^ In its transportation facilities the county is fortunate, all its points 
being on or within easy reach of the Chesapeake & , Ohio Railway and its 
branches, and a ready outlet is thus afforded the various products of farm, 
mill and mine. The extension of this system into the Potts Creek terri- 
tory, just completed, opens up hitherto untouched forests and iron ore 
beds, giving promise of a great increase in the manufacture of pig iron 
which forms an important industry throughout the county. The county is 
a magnificent point for the location of manufactories, as iron ore, pig iron, 
limestone and lumber are easily obtainable and it is but a short haul from 
the coal fields. The supply of iron ore, taken in connection with the coal 
supply near at hand, and the immense deposits of limestone distributed 
throughout the county, form a basis of operation of great importance, and 
it is natural to discern in these the assurance that industrial development 
and especially the manufacture of iron and steel will always form an 
important factor in this region's activity. 

A BRIEF STATEMENT OF CONDITION OF PUBLIC ROADS 
IN ALLEGHANY COUNTY 

^ During the last five years there has been considerable improvement 
in the roads of this county, due chiefly to the system under which they 
are now worked. 

^ Prior to 1902, the roads were kept up by contract. The Board of 
Supervisors divided the roads into sections and let these out to the lowest 
bidder. This plan was not at all satisfactory. In 19 — a law was passed 
giving the Board of Supervisors powder to employ a Road Superintendent 
for each magisterial district in the county, and furnishing him with a 
complete outfit, consisting of portable house, team, improved road ma- 
chinery, men, etc. As a result of this the roads have materially improved, 
many changes have been made in the location of roads, thereby reducing 
the grade. 



Its R e s o II )■ c I- s and f ii d u s t r i e 




WATER SCENE, ALLEGHANY COUNTY, VIRGINIA 



Alleghany County^ Virginia 



^ Several miles of macadamizing with stones^ river gravel, etc., have 

been made from Covington to Clifton Forge, a distance of twelve miles. 

The road has been graded nicely and covered with three heavy coats of 

furnace slag, making one of the best roads, in the State. 

^ In the last few years ten good steel bridges have been constructed, 

thereby adding very materially to the safety and convenience of the 

traveling public. 

^[ There are in the county about three hundred and thirty miles of 

roads, upon which is spent annually about $12,000, the amount being 

raised by direct taxation. 

^ The roads in Alleghany County compare favorably with those in 

any other coimty in the State. 

WATER POWER 

^ In natural water power the county of Alleghany is especially fortu- 
nate, and there are scattered throughout the county numerous streams of 
sufficient volume and velocity to force large quantities of machinery. At 
several points, such as at Covington, Clifton Forge, and Rich Patch, this 
power is employed to some extent, but there remain untouched many ex- 
cellent locations for the utilization of the water power, noticeably one 
mile west of Covington, on the main line of the Chesapeake & Ohio 
Railway, where Dunlap Creek has a fall of ten feet over a natural dam ; a 
mile further westward on the same railroad, where are found large de- 
posits of cement rock ; a mile northeast of Covington, on the Hot Springs 
Branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio; two miles east of Covington, hard by 
undeveloped limestone deposits : on Roaring Run and Potts Creek, tra- 
versing undeveloped iron ore districts ; and in the Falling Springs Valley, 
eight miles northeast of Covington, where are located the noted "Falls." 

WATER CRESS 

^ The streams of Alleghany County are well adapted to the cultivation 
of water cress, and this industry has been carried on in the county in 
recent years with marked success. In the Falling Springs Valley, eight 
miles northeast of Covington, are located the cress beds of the Virginia 
Cress Company. The company has eight acres devoted to this industry 
and the output of a season is about fifteen hundred barrels, which are 
shipped to Northern and Fastern' markets. 

IRON ORE 

^[ The fact that eminent geologists and mining experts have stated 
that the region in which Alleghany County is situated is the prospective 
center of iron ore production in the Union, at once places the county in a 
high place in the industrial world. 
^ At present the seat of iron production in Virginia is the Potts Valley 



Its Resources and Industries 




Alleghany County, Virginia 



District. A very large part of this district is in Alleghany County; the 
Potts Valley Railroad forming a junction with the main line of the Chesa- 
peake & Ohio Railway at Covington, the county seat of Alleghany. 
^ The great Potts Valley iron ore region is within one hundred miles 
of the Coking Coals of New River, Flat Top, and the Gauley River in 
Virginia and West Virginia. Some of the largest furnaces in Virginia 
are located in this district, such as the Longdate, Low Moor, Covington, 
Princess, and Iron Gate furnaces. Much of the ore used in the Victoria 
and Buena Vista furnaces and in the furnaces in the Valley of Virginia 
is supplied from the Potts Valley ore fields. 

^[ "That portion of the district lying northeast of New River and south- 
west of Jackson's River and between Craigs Creek and the crest of Peters 
Mountain, including the valley of Dunlaps Creek on the west, is now 
generally conceded to be the great iron ore producing region of the Vir- 
ginias." By referring to a map of Virginia, it will be seen that these 
boundaries include the larger part of Alleghany County. 
^ The ore in the Potts Valley District is Brown Hematite, and runs 
on an average of about fifty-one per cent, pure iron. 

^ As Alleghany County lies almost entirely in this great ore region, a 
statement made concerning the Potts Valley District will, of course, apply 
to the county. The following statement was made by an able geologist 
and expert mining engineer: "It would be within the just limits of the 
facts given to estimate that in the Potts Valley, along Potts and Peters 
Mountains, their foot-hills and ridges, there are one hundred miles of 
outcrop of Brown Oriskany ore, to say nothing of the large quantities of 
Clinton ore, of an average thickness of ten feet, that can be stripped and 
mined six hundred feet above water level, which, allowing two and one- 
fourth tons to the cubic yard of ore, would yield 233,000,000 tons of ore, 
and taking three hundred days as a year, this would run one one-hundred- 
ton furnace four thousand years. It is no discredit to other iron-producing 
districts and states to express the opinion that the district of which the 
Potts Valley is the principal factor is to be the prospective center of the 
iron production of the Union." 

^ For the manufacture of steel by the Basic process the ore of Potts 
Valley are peculiarly adapted, as there is a plenteous supply of the best 
quality of Magnesia Limestone in the lower beds for lining purposes for 
that process. 

^ The ore mined in the Potts Valley will be shipped to Covington over 
a branch line of the Chesapeake & Ohio. As has been said, the town o,f 
Covington is located at the junction of the Potts Valley Railroad and 
the Chesapeake & Ohio. The fact that the town is so located, and that 
it is the largest town having direct communication with the Potts Valley 
ore region, gives it' a position of peculiar advantage in the industrial 
world and places it among the towns destined to grow rapidly in the 
near future. 

^[ The Potts Valley ore region is beginning to attract the attention of 
the entire industrial world, and in the next few years will be as well 



Its Resources and Industries 




A 1 1 e g h a 71 y County, Virginia 



known for its iron production as some of the old iron manufacturing 
centers of today. The development of this region will give an opportunity 
for the use of the most modern machinery. The mines will be opened and 
operated by the Low Moor Iron Company. 

^ In addition to the Potts Valley mines, there are many iron ore mines 
in Alleghany County, the most important being: Rumsey, Dolly Ann, 
Stack Mines, Rich Patch, and Low IVIoor. Around these mines small 
towns have grown, connected by a system of branch railroads, which is 
of great benefit to the county. If Alleghany County had nothing more 
than its iron ore resources, it would rank among the richest counties of 
Virginia. 

LIMESTONE AND OTHER MINERAL RESOURCES 

^ While Alleghany County is the leading iron ore county in Virginia, 
its other mineral resources are extensive and valuable. Following is a 
list of some of the most important minerals in the county: magnesia 
limestone, cement rock, marl, magnesia ore, kaolin, suitable for the manu- 
facture of pottery; pyrite, a number of limestone formations, brick clays, 
slate and marble. Practically the whole of Alleghany County has in iis 
geological formation a stratum of limestone. At certain points great de- 
posits of limestone are found, conveniently located with reference to the 
six iron furnaces in the county. Some of the most A'^aluable limestone 
quarries in the State of Virginia are in Alleghany County. From the 
Winlyme Quarry, near Low Moor, limestone is gotten for the several 
furnaces owned and operated by the Low Moor Iron Company of Vir- 
ginia. The fact that the limestone deposits in Alleghany County are 
located in such close proximity to the iron ore, together with the nearness 
of both to the coal fields, makes the production of pig iron at a minimum 
cost possible. Recently a number of quarries have been opened for the 
purpose of furnishing ballast for railroads. 

^ About eight miles north of Covington in what is known as the Falling 
Springs Valley are great deposits of marl. These beds of marl surround 
the "Falls" and have been formed by the action of the waters at that 
place. So far no use has been made of this marl, but its commercial value 
is apparent and only awaits development. 

CEMENT ROCK 

^ Among the most valuable undeveloped resources of Alleghany County 
is the deposit of cement rock, three and one-half miles west of Covington, 
Virginia. These quarries were discovered in 1858 and are situated on 
Dunlap's Creek and about eight hundred yards from the main line of 
the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway. 

^ The natural formation of the quarries makes it possible to build kilns 
into which the quarried stone could be delivered at a minimum cost. The 
natural and existing advantages may be briefly stated as follows : 
I. A thick stratum of cement rock covering one hundred acres. 



Its Resources and Industrie 




A 1 1 e g h a ti y County, Virginia 



2. Ample water power within three hundred feet of quarries. 

3. Located about eight hundred yards from railroad and on level 

with same. 

4. Excellent location for cement plant and necessary equipment. 

5. Proximity to large cement markets; 

^ This cement has been thoroughly tested in railroad construction 
work and has proved to be a most excellent grade. Stones put together 
with this cement gave away before the cement itself when certain old 
masonry was torn down. 

^ The quarry was opened many j'ears ago for the purpose of getting 
cement to be used on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway west of Covington, 
Virginia. At that time some of the most experienced railroad contractors 
tested the cement and without exception testified to its excellence. Tt 
has been estimated that with a first-class equipment cement could be 
produced at a cost of about thirty-five cents per barrel. A successful 
railroad contractor, after using the cement, said : "It can be relied upon 
for any class of work requiring cement of first quality." 
^ Among the undeveloped resources of Alleghany County possibly the 
most promising is the cement deposit above mentioned. 



FURNACES 

^[ As Alleghany County is the greatest iron ore county in Virginia, it 
is but natural that in this county there should be a number of furnaces. 
There are six furnaces in operation in the county, being located at Cov- 
ington, Low Moor, Iron Gate, and Longdate, resp'ectively. 
^ The furnace at Iron Gate has been in blast since 1893, and is owned 
and operated by the Alleghany Ore and Iron Company. The furnace is 
located on the James River branch of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, 
two miles east of Clifton Forge, where the company has its head offices. 
The capacity of this furnace is seventy-five tons of foundry iron, daily, 
and the product is especially adapted for machinery castings and as cylin- 
der iron. The ore used, in the Iron Gate Furnace is obtained from the 
famous Oriskany mines in Craig County, and the limestone used is 
obtained from Alleghany County. 

^[ There are two furnaces at Longdale, one of them dating back to 
1827, and known as the Lucy Selina Furnace, being a charcoal furnace, 
and run as such until 1873, when the coal fields were opened up by the 
extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway into West Virginia. Since 
1874 the Longdale Iron Company has been making coke pig iron, and 
after building a second furnace in 1880, increased their daily output to 
one hundred and twenty tons of pig ,iron, that being the present joint 
capacity of the two furnaces. 

^[ The Low Moor Iron Company operates three furnaces in Alleghany 
County, and some of the most important ore mines. This company con- 
trols forty thousand acres of ore lands in Virginia, and two thousand 



Its Resources and Industrie 



rS 




/^ Alleghany County, Virginia 

acres in West Virginia. In their furnaces at Low Moor the best quality 
of pig iron is produced. These furances were built in 1881, and are very 
conveniently located, so far as the ore and limestone supply is concerned, 
being on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, and the central point of the 
system of branch lines of railroad built by the company. The other fur- 
nace operated by the Low Moor Iron Company is at Covington, and has 
been in blast since 1891, having a capacity of one hundred and ten tons 
of foundry iron, daily. A more extensive account of the furnace located 
in Covington is given elsewhere in this book. 

COVINGTON, ALLEGHANY COUNTY, VA. 

^ Covington, the county seat and leading town of Alleghany County, 
is handsomely and eligibly situated on one of the greatest thoroughfares 
in Virginia, and is one of the most flourishing inland towns in the State. 
It commands the trade of Alleghany County and the adjoining county of 
Bath. Ten years ago the population of Covington, did not exceed one 
thousand; today a conservative census places the number of inhabitants 
at five thousand. In industrial and commercial activity Covington takes 
rank with cities twice its size, and the recent development in the produc- 
tion and manufacture of iron ore is an earnest of still greater increase 
along these lines. The capital invested in manufacturing plants at Cov- 
ington alone exceed $2,050,000, these figures not including various plants 
within a radius of two miles of Covington, which would increase the esti- 
mate by $50,000. Two national banks, with a capitalization of $160,000, 
have deposits aggregating $1,000,000. The bonded indebtedness of Cov- 
ington is $80,000, the proceeds having gone to the extension of sewerage 
system, the laying of pavement, the purchase c^ a fine gravity system of 
water supply, and enlarging and maintaining ts public school system, 
which is credited by the Department of Public Instruction with being sec- 
ond to none in the State. Houses of worship are owned by Presbyte- 
rians, the Northern and Southern Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, 
and Catholics. Its hotel accommodations are ample for the requirements 
of Covington, as the most progressive city between Charleston and Char- 
lottesville. Besides commanding the trade of a rich agricultural region, 
Covington boasts of the second largest wood pulp and paper plant in the 
United States; the largest extract plant in the world, having a daily 
capacity of five hundred barrels of moulding liquid; one of the largest 
steam tanneries in Virginia ; an iron blast furnace with a capacity of 
one hundred and fifty tons of pig iron per day; foundry and machine 
shops affording employment to two hundred and sixty skilled workmen ; 
two flouring mills; planing mills; sash and door factory; pin and bracket 
plant ; ice factory ; electric light plant ; ' two steam brick plants, and a 
number of smaller industries in successful operation. 
^[ Covington is the junction point of the main line of the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railway with the Warm Springs Valley branch, at the terminus of 
which, twenty-five miles distant, are located the famous Virginia Hot 



Its Resources and I n d ti s ( 



15 




1 6 Alleghany C o u 71 t y , Virginia 

Springs. Within a radius of twenty-five miles also are the noted Green- 
brier White Sulphur, Warm Sulphur, Sweet Chalybeate, Old Sweet, and 
Healing Springs. 

EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES 

^ Educationally, Alleghany County has kept fully abreast of the prog- 
ress made along other lines of development. A few years ago little atten- 
tion was given to the public schools of the county. The teachers were 
inferior and poorly paid. The buildings were monuments of the lack 
of educational enterprise. At the present time a great change has been 
wrought in the minds of the people in the development of the public school 
system in the county. Five graded schools have been established within 
the last two years. This has necessitated the closing of several schools 
in the vicinity of each. Although there has been considerable oppositioii 
to this centralization, yet with thoroughly-equipped teachers, results have 
fully demonstrated to all that this is much the better plan. Great progress 
has been made in the Covington Graded School. In 1891 the school con- 
sisted of sixty-three pupils and three teachers, working independently of 
each other, with no graded course of study and a very poor, three-room, 
one-story building, with a yard used for a wagon lot ; now the enrollment 
is nearly six hundred, with twelve teachers, a graded course of study, 
consisting of Primary, Grammar, and High School departments, the latter 
classed as Number One by the State Board of Education. The building 
is a large, two-story structure consisting of twelve rooms, well equipped 
with all the modern improvements. 

^ The Alleghany Teachers' Association is composed of all the teachers 
in the county. It meets twice a year; its chief aim is to raise the stand- 
ard of teaching in the county so high that ■ the School Boards will not 
employ any other than first grade teachers at less than $45.00 per month. 
^ The Covington High School is one to which all the pupils in the 
county, after having completed the work in the primary and grammar 
grades in their home schools may attend without paying any tuition. 
||£ The graduates from this High School may enter without examina- 
tion the University of Virginia, Washington and Lee University, Hamp- 
den-Sidney College, and Randolph-Macon Woman's College, Lynchburg, 
Virginia. 

^J Washington and Lee University, University of Virginia, and Hamp- 
den- Sydney College have given this school scholarships entitling the holder 
to free tuition. 

TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES 

^ Few towns of its size have better railroad facilities than Covington, 
Virginia. It is situated on the main line of the great Chesapeake & Ohio 
Railway at the junctions of this line with the Hot Springs Branch of the 
Potts Valley Railroad. 



Its Resources and Industries 




i8 Alleghany County, Virginia 

^ The yards contain, fourteen and seven-tenths miles of trackage, yet 

it is impossible to handle, with ease, the immense amount of freight 

brought here each year. The books of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway 

Company show there are more than twenty-four thousand cars of freight 

handled annually, the total freight receipts being over $600,000. 

U There are fourteen passenger trains in and out of Covington each day, 

all carrying mail. The annual sale of tickets is more than $50,000. 

^ Within the last ten years the railroad business has tripled, making 

it necessary for the company to build new freight and passenger stations, 

the plans for which are now being prepared. 

COVINGTON FURNACE 

tfr The iron furnace at Covington is one of six furnaces in Alleghany 
County, and was built in 1891 by the Covington Improvement Company, 
but was afterwards purchased and put into operation by the Low Moor 
Iron Company. This plant has a daily output of one hundred and ten 
tons of pig iron. The iron made in this furnace is known as "Foundry 
Iron" and is used in the manufacture of fine machinery, and utensils. 
U The raw materials used are obtained almost exclusively from Alle- 
ghany County, some of the ore being obtained from the Dolly Ann Mines 
and the limestone from the quarry near Low Moor. The proximity of 
the raw material to the furnace at Covington makes it possible to produce 
pig iron at almost a minimum cost. The furnace at Covington is the near- 
est furnace to the great Potts Valley ore region, and the ore from the 
Potts Valley mines will be used in this furnace just as soon as the rail- 
road entering that district is completed. From the Covington furnace 
iron has been shipped far and near, and some of the largest and best- 
known manufacturers of machinery in the United States use very exten- 
sively the product of the Covington plant. A large part of the iron manu- 
factured in this furnace is consumed by local industries, the Covington 
Machine Company using hundreds of tons of pig iron a year. In con- 
nection with the furnace there are a number of coke ovens kept in con- 
stant operation. Recently the Covington furnace has been enlarged and 
repaired, and is today one of the most important industries of the county. 
It has been stated that when the Potts Valley mines are put into opera- 
tion, the furnace now at Covington will be but one of several located at 
that place. 

EXTRACT PLANT 

^ The most recent addition to the industries of Covington is a plant 
operated by the Robson Process Company, and known as an Extract 
Plant. This industry is located just across the Jackson's River from the 
pulp and paper mills of the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company, and 
is built for the utilization of the, otherwise, waste products of those mills. 
^ In the manufacture of pulp from wood the Sulphite Liquor used in 
the process is afterwards lost. Within the last three years a process 



Its Resources and 1 71 d u s t r i 



19 




Alleghany County, Virginia 



whereby the waste Sulphite Liquor is converted into a valuable product 
has been discovered. The waste liquor from the pulp mill is piped across 
the river to the Extract Plant, where it is converted into what is known 
as "Glutrin," which is used as a binder in making sand cores in foundries, 
as a disinfectant, and as a briquetting agent, for fine coal and iron pyrites. 
U This plant is a unique industry, and the one located at Covington 
is the largest of the kind in the world. The structure and equipment of 
the Extract Plant is one of the most improved kind. The building is 
constructed of reinforced concrete, the expanded metal system being used. 
When the plant is running full capacity, five thousand barrels of Sulphite 
Liquor will be converted into five hundred barrels of Glutrin per day. 
^ This industry will not only benefit the town and country as a business 
institution, but will use the waste product of the pulp mill, which was for- 
merly turned into the river, and thereby cleanse the water. 

THE TANNERY AT COVINGTON 

^[ The town of Covington boasts of having the largest steam tannery 
in the State of Virginia. This tannery is one of several operated in the 
State by The Deford Company. The tannery was one of the town's first 
large industries and from the day it was started has been in constant 
operation, a period of fifteen years. 

^ The plant covers seventeen acres and is located near the Jackson's 
River, and on a belt line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, thus having 
the means of getting rid of all waste products, and excellent transporta- 
tion facilities for its leather. 

^[ It is, of course, necessary to carry an enormous stock of bark, and 
in the Covington tannery there are storage sheds with an aggregate ca- 
pacity of ten to fifteen thousand cords of bark. Much of this bark is ob- 
tained from Alleghany County, and the building of the Potts Valley Rail- 
road, which will soon be completed, will open up a country rich in bark, 
as well as in iron ore. In this tannery is made the finest grade of leather, 
such as belting leather, and scoured oak sole leather. The plant has a 
daily capacity of three hundred heavy whole hides. 

^[ This industry gives employment to one hundred and twenty men, 
many of them having been associated with the tannery since it started 
operation in 1892. Recently The Deford Company has enlarged the plant 
at Covington, building a large addition and installing new equipment. No 
other Covington industry has been so much benefit to the people living in 
the county. The large market this institution has established for bark 
has done much to increase the yearly income pf the farmer and land owner 
all through Alleghany County. It also uses the local supply of raw hides, 
thus creating a local market for two very important products. 

PLANING MILL 

^ For the past fifteen years Covington has been one of the best lumber 
markets in Virginia. Throughout Alleghany County a great deal of 




TIPPLE HOUSE AT LONGDALE, VIRGINIA 



Alleghany County., Virginia 



building and other construction work requiring wood has created a large 
demand for dressed himber. 

^[ The planing mill owned and operated by E. M. Nettleton & Com- 
pany, at Covington, is equipped with every kind of improved machinery 
and manufactures various parts for buildings. Stored in the lumber yards 
surrounding the mill are huge piles of choice wood, from which is made 
every part of frame buildings. This plant produces turned posts, wood 
trimmings, mouldings, scroll-work, doors, window-frames and blinds, be- 
sides making a specialty of high-grade cabinet work. The location of the 
mill and lumber yards, a few feet from the main line of the Chesapeake ik. 
Ohio Railway, affords excellent shipping advantages. The market created 
by the planing mill at Covington has largely increased the development 
of the lumber resources which Alleghany County boasts. 

MACHINE SHOPS 

f^ The machine shops at Covington, owned and operated by the Cov- 
ington Machine Company, form an industry with a history in which the 
entire citizenship takes pride. The shops started in 1892, and from then 
down to the present time noticeable progress has been made in every 
respect, until today the plant stands as the largest machine shops and 
foundry on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway between Newport News and 
Huntington. 

^ In the years of business depression and when other industries sus- 
pended operation, these shops were kept steadily running. The plant 
consists of machine shops and foundry. The original buildings as erec- 
ted in 1891 and 1892 were used for ten years, when both shops and foundry 
were enlarged and additional equipment installed to handle the increasing 
business. The further increase in the company's business during the last 
two years has necessitated enlargement of the plant, so that the shops 
and foundry are .now twice their original size. The principal work done 
in the shops and foundry was, until recently, work for the Chesapeake & 
Ohio Railway and manufacturing castings for furnaces, collieries, rail- 
road carwheels and other smaller parts of machinery. 
^ For the past three years the attention of the plant has been directed 
to the manufacture of a patent coke extractor, which is regarded as the 
most valuable invention yet perfected in connection with the production 
and handling of coke. The original patent on the coke extractor was 
granted in 1891 to Thomas Smith, of the Thorncliff Iron Works, Sheffield, 
England, and the machine was mtroduced into the United States in 1896, 
at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. The patent rights of the invention now belong 
to the Covington Machine Company, and these coke extractors are now 
being produced in their shops at Covington, which have been enlarged for 
that purpose. As a labor-saving machine, as an efficient apparatus, and as 
an economical method for extracting coke from bee'-hive ovens the ma- 
chines have stood successfully the most rigid tests, and are now being 



Its Resources and Industries 



23 




24 Alleghany County, Virginia 

installed and used in the Connellsville, Kanawha, New River, and Poca- 
hontas coke fields. It is claimed that in a plant of four hundred coke 
ovens the use of the mechanical coke extractors as made by the Covington 
Machine Company would effect a saving of $120.00 per day as compared 
with the cost of operating the same number of ovens by hand. The com- 
pany now has in hand orders for a large number of these machines, and 
so important and extensive has become this phase of their business that 
branch offices have been established in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. 
^ Controlling such an exceptional invention, together with the plant's 
usual and former products, the Covington Machine Company is an indus- 
try of much importance and affords employment to -about two hundred 
and fifty skilled workmen, and is now advertising for expert machinists 
and moulders, in addition to those already employed. In these shops 
and foundry have been produced not only machines after existing models, 
but inventions and improvements in machinery originating among the 
management and employes of the plant. A cut of the patent coke extractor 
mentioned above appears elsewhere in this book. 

FLOUR MILLS 

^ There are two large flour and grain mills in Covington — the Coving- 
ton Roller Mill, and the mill of the Alleghany Milling Company. These 
two mills give an excellent market for the local production of wheat, 
corn, oats, and other grain. 

THE COVINGTON ROLLER MILL 

^[ The Covington Roller Mill, owned and operated by McAllister & Bell, 
is one of the oldest mills in Virginia. This mill is run by water power, 
and the charter given for the construction of a dam across the Jackson's 
River at a point where the mill now stands, was issued in 1797. This 
mill was known as the Covington Mill prior to 1891, but improved roller 
machinery having been installed in that year, the mill has since been 
called "Covington Roller Mill." This mill manufactures four grades of 
flour, and produces all kinds of ground grain and feed. The daily capac- 
ity is one hundred and twenty-five barrels of flour, and five hundred bush- 
els of ground feed. The mill has not only a local reputation, but at dis- 
tant points has established an excellent trade on all of its products. While 
the Covington Roller Mill is the oldest industry in Covington, it is one 
of the most modern, so far as equipment is concerned. 

THE ALLEGHANY MILLING COMPANY 

^ The Alleghany Milling Company has been operating a flour and 
grain mill in Covington for the last three years, having built a new plant 
for that purpose. The motive power used is what is known as Suction 
Gas Power, and the mill is a very efficient plant, producing eighty-five 



Its R e s o 71 r c c s and Industries 



25 




26 Alleghany County, Virginia 

barrels of flour, and from four hundred to six hundred bushels of ground 
grain daily. 

^ Three grades of flour are made, and all kinds of ground grain are 
produced in the mill of the Alleghany Milling Company. From the very 
start this company has found a ready market for all of its products, and 
the mill is run at all times at full capacity. 

THE ALLEGHANY PIN AND BRACKET COMPANY 

J[ The plant owned and operated by The Alleghany Pin and Bracket 
Company is one of the most important industries of Covington. In this 
factory all kinds of locust pins, used in installing electric lighting, tele- 
graph and telephone systems, are manufactured. The scarcity of locust 
wood in many parts of the country, and the increasing demand for locust 
pins has resulted in a good market for the products of pin and bracket 
factories. 

^ In the plant of the Alleghany Pin and Bracket Company, pins and 
brackets of all sizes are made. This company has received and filled 
orders from all parts of the United States, supplying pins and brackets 
to be used in installing the heavy electrical systems in connection with 
the great power plants at Niagara. The plant is equipped with the most 
modern electrical machinery and is run in connection with an ice factory 
and electric light plant. 

^ The process of manufacturing pins is a very interesting one : the 
logs of locust wood are received at one end of the factory and come out 
at the other end cut into pins ready for use. 

^ This plant has created a great demand for locust wood throughout 
Alleghany County and is, therefore, a very valuable industry, not only to 
the people of Covington, but to many of the farmers in other parts of the 
county. 

BRICK MAKING 

^ Located at Covington are two brick j^ards well equipped for utilizing 
the rich clay deposits which are found on the outskirts of the city, and 
constituting an industry which affords employment to many operatives 
and takes rank among the city's active industries. 

^ The Covington Brick Company's plant has been in operation for the 
past fifteen years and has a daily capacity of twenty-five thousand brick. 
The clay used in their manufacture is obtained from deposits immediately 
surrounding the kilns. This clay is known as soft mud clay and is suitable 
for the manufacture of various kinds of brick, such as building, soft, and 
pavement brick. 

^ The Alleghany Brick Company's plant was established in 1906 and 
is also well equipped with the most improved machinery. The clay used 
is secured from a large clay deposit directly across Jackson's River from 
the plant, and is conveyed thither by cable. The deposit is of an unusual 



Its Resources a ti d I n <J u s t r i e s 




38 AlleghanyCounty, Virginia 

size, being about twenty-five feet deep and covering many acres. The 
Alleghany Brick Company produces building and paving bricks, its capac- 
ity being 30,000 brick daily. 

^ A ready market is found for the product of the two plants, as in 
addition to supplying the local demands, orders for the brick manufac- 
tured at Covington are received from other parts of Virginia and other 
states. 

PULP AND PAPER MILLS 

^[ Covington, Virginia, boasts of having one of the largest manufactur- 
ing plants in the South. The pulp and paper mills owned and operated by 
the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company form an industry that, taken 
alone, would establish the rank of Covington as an industrial town. 
^ This plant was built during the years 1899 and 1900 and began oper- 
ation early in the spring of the latter year. The construction of the 
buildings and the machinery used in the equipment are sufficient to give 
an idea of the enormous investment made by the West Virginia Pulp and 
Paper Company in establishing the mills at Covington. 
^ In the pulp mill is made what is known as spruce sulphite fibre. The 
only wood used in the Covington mill is spruce pine, the wood being 
brought from the large forests of spruce in West Virginia owned by the 
West Virginia Pulp ' and Paper Company. 

^[ The capacity of the pulp mill is from one hundred and ninety to two 
hundred thousand pounds of pulp per day. The material used in the 
manufacture of this daily output is one hundred and ninety cords of wood, 
thirty-five thousand pounds of sulphur, fifteen thousand barrel||^ of lime, 
and twenty thousand pounds bleaching powder, all of the pulp being 
bleached. Not all of the pulp manufactured in the Covington mill is 
used in the paper mill located at the same place, but with the exception 
of forty-five thousand pounds daily, is shipped to other paper mills, 
fj The paper mill at Covington turns out an average of about eighty 
thousand pounds of finished paper per day. The plant consists of two 
Fonndrinier paper machines, one hundred and twenty and one hundred 
and thirty-two inches wide, respectively. The product is principally mag- 
azine paper, although considerable book, lithograph, map, poster and parch- 
ment paper is made. There are five stacks of super calenders capable of 
handling the entire output if necessary. At present the Covington plant 
makes paper for such publications as Harper's Weekly, Harper's Bazaar, 
Collier's Weekly, Life, Judge, Tobacco Leaf, Leslie's Weekly, Reviezv of 
Reviews, Pictorial Reviezv, American Machinist, Pozver. 
([ In the two mills about four hundred operatives, including thirty girls, 
are employed. The pulp and paper mills are operated by a central power 
plant, consisting of eight water-tube Edgemoor boilers. To run the mill 
one day two hundred and twenty-five tons of coal are consumed. In these 
mills the entire process of the manufacture of paper from wood may be 
seen. At one end of the mill the wood is cut into small pieces and after 
a process involving the use of the most complicated machinery and the 



Its Resources and Industrie 



2g 




30 A 1 1 e g h u n y C o u ti t y , Virginia 

care of many skilled operatives, emerges from the other end as high-grade 
magazine and book paper. These mills are located on Jackson's River, 
and this stream furnishes the enormous quantity of water used by the 
mills. 

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE. COVINGTON, VA. 

^ Prior to November 12, 1906, the business men of Covington had met 
a number of times for the purpose of securing some particular object 
which might benefit the town. On that date it was decided to form a 
regular organization to be known as the Chamber of Commerce of Cod- 
ington, Virginia. The purpose of the organization is to protect and pro- 
mote the interests of the town, and already much has been done along 
this line. 

fj This book, giving some account of the resources and industries of 
Alleghany County, is issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Covington, 
with the approval of the Board of Supervisors of Alleghany County, and 
the Town Council of Covington. 

fj The following business men of Covington are ofificers of the Chamber 
of Commerce : 

W. A. Rinehart, President; E. M. Nettleton, First Vice-President; 
J. J. Lear, Jr., Second Vice-President ; Ira Drew, Secretary ; R. J. Dickey, 
Treasurer. 

^[ Mr. Rinehart is a member of the firm of Rinehart, Dennis & Com- 
pany, well-known railroad contractors. Mr. Rinehart is connected with 
many enterprises in Covington and is one of the most widely-known men 
in Virginia. Mr. E. M. Nettleton has for a number of years been identi- 
fied with the business interests of Covington. He is a member of the firm 
of E. M. Nettleton & Company, the largest lumber dealers in Alleghany 
County. Mr. Nettleton is a member of the Board of Supervisors of the 
county. Mr. Ira Dew is proprietor of one of the largest department 
stores in Alleghany County. Mr. R. J. Dickey is a well-known real estate 
dealer in Covington. 

^ The membership of the Chamber of Commerce is composed of some 
of the most progressive business men of Covington, and the organization 
is growing rapidly. 



Its Resources and Industries 



3r 




32 



Alleghany C o ti n t y , Virginia 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS \i;yC 

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